voice"
which seeks to communicate additional solemnity to the Scriptures by
reciting them in a tone never employed in ordinary life, as the
fledgling curate adds gravity to the Litany by whispering "the hour of
death and Day of Judgment."

Mr Noot, being short-sighted, did not see how lightly the punishments
of these ancient races passed over the heads of his dozing audience, and
was bringing the long lesson to a properly dramatic close when the
unexpected happened: the screen-door opened and a stranger entered. As
the blowing of a horn by the paladin broke the repose of a century, and
called back to life the spellbound princess and her court, so these
slumbering churchmen were startled from their dreams by the intruder.
The choir-boys fell to giggling, the choir-men stared, clerk Janaway
grasped his mace as if he would brain so rash an adventurer, and the
general movement made Mr Sharnall glance nervously at his stops; for he
thought that he had overslept himself, and that the choir had stood up
for the _Magnificat_.

The stranger seemed unconscious of the attention which his appearance
provoked. He was no doubt some casual sightseer, and had possibly been
unaware that any service was in progress until he opened the
screen-door. But once there, he made up his mind to join in the
devotions, and was walking to the steps which led up to the stalls when
clerk Janaway popped out of his place and accosted him, quoting the
official regulations in something louder than a stage whisper:

"Ye cannot enter the choir during the hours of Divine service. Ye
cannot come in."

The stranger was amused at the old man's officiousness.

"I am in," he whispered back, "and, being in, will take a seat, if you
please, until the service is over."

The clerk looked at him doubtfully for a moment, but if there was
amusement to be read in the other's countenance, there was also a
decision that did not encourage opposition. So he thought better of the
matter, and opened the door of one of the pews that run below the stalls
in Cullerne Church.

But the stranger did not appear to notice that a place was being shown
him, and walked past the pew and up the little steps that led to the
stalls on the cantoris side. Directly behind the singing-men were five
stalls, which had canopies richer and more elaborate than those of the
others, with heraldic escutcheons painted on the backs. From these
seats the vulgar herd was excluded by a faded